Techniques for Performing Actions Based Upon Physical Locations of Paper Documents

Abstract

According to one set of embodiments, techniques are provided for performing actions based upon physical locations of one or more paper documents. According to another set of embodiments, techniques are provided for tracking the physical locations of paper documents. According to another set of embodiments, techniques are provided for determining electronic document information for paper documents. According to another set of embodiments, techniques are provided for determining and tracking the contents of a container. According to another set of embodiments, a document security system is provided. According to another set of embodiments, techniques are provided for tracking documents in a workflow.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 235,028 (Atty. Docket No. 015358-008000US), filed Sep. 3, 2002, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.[0002]In addition, the present application is related to the following patent applications and patents, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes:[0003](1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08 / 754,721 (Atty. Docket No. 015358-004000US), filed Nov. 21, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,978,477, issued Nov. 2, 1999;[0004](2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 235,035 (Atty. Docket No. 015358-007700US), filed Sep. 3, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,424,974, issued Sep. 16, 2008;[0005](3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 235,042 (Atty. Docket No. 015358-007800US), filed Sep. 3, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,506,250, issued Mar. 17, 2009;[0006](4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10 / 235,032 (A...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0027]Additional embodiments of the present invention provide techniques that facilitate tracking of physical locations of paper documents. These embodiments can track physical locations of paper documents that have identification tags physically associated with them. Each identification tag that is physically associated with a paper document is configured to store information that can be used to uniquely identify the paper document with which the identification tag is physically associated. For a particular paper document, the identification tag physically associated with the particular paper document along with information stored in the identification tag facilitates tracking of the physical location of the particular paper document.

[0032]Additional embodiments of the present invention provide a container that is capable of outputting information related to objects stored in the container. The container is able to output information for objects that are stored by the container and that have identification tags physically associated with them.

Problems solved by technology

Conventionally available systems do not provide the ability to track or perform actions based on physical locations of paper documents.

Due to the large number of electronic documents and paper documents, it becomes very difficult to identify an electronic document corresponding to a particular paper document.

The problem is particularly acute in office environments.

A common problem shared by all containers is that there is no easy way of automatically determining the contents of a container.

This process of manually determining the contents of a container can be extremely time-consuming and frustrating, especially when a container stores several items.

For example, it may take a user a lot of time to determine the contents of a box of documents.

However, most of these techniques still require significant manual effort and lack the automation and convenience desired by users.

Marketing plans and forecasts, and customer lists are typically sensitive subject matter that require controlled access.

Any substantial project is likely to produce volumes of paperwork.

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